


Scavengers of the Sea

by Black_Rose_Authoress



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, F/M, Genderbending, Language Barrier, Mermaids, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-25
Updated: 2017-11-19
Packaged: 2019-02-05 04:04:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12786573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Black_Rose_Authoress/pseuds/Black_Rose_Authoress
Summary: Ludwig just wanted to eat his breakfast in peace, but then he was interrupted by his panicking older brother and brought to the seaside to meet a rather irritated, finny girl...





	1. Chapter 1

At this point, Ludwig should know better than to be surprised by _anything_ his brother said or did. Gilbert operated on-what his younger brother considered to be-an entirely different plane of existence than the rest of the world, after all. He had an incredibly inflated view of his own self-worth, a tendency toward odd beliefs, an apparent inability to consider the consequences of his actions... Ludwig had long ago lost his ability to be surprised by anything Gilbert-related.

Or, so he'd thought.

"We've got to go!" His brother slammed his hands against the edge of Ludwig's kitchen table for the second time this morning, almost snarling the words. "What are you waiting for? I don't know how long Antonio can keep her there!"

Ludwig's eyes automatically moved to the plate that had jumped at Gilbert's slam. A plate that held the remnants of his half-finished breakfast; what anyone would consider to be an entirely average sort of breakfast. Two fried eggs on top of whole-wheat, buttered toast, three sausages, a cup of coffee, a glass of two percent milk.

He'd been expecting today to be rather dull, filled with nothing more exciting than chores and yardwork. But, then his older brother suddenly burst into his kitchen, screaming that Ludwig had to come with him right _now_. The exclamation, itself, wasn't entirely abnormal, but the panic and terror in Gilbert's voice definitely _was_...

His brother was staring at him from across the table, his eyes wild and his fingers clenched tightly around a handful of tablecloth. His chest was heaving, as if he'd run here.

"What happened?" Ludwig finally asked.

Gilbert shook his head, his lips drawing back from teeth in a snarl. "I don't have time to explain! You just need to come with me _now_!"

"But..." Gilbert, however, apparently wasn't in the mood to answer any questions. He released the tablecloth and then turned and sped out the door, which he hadn't bothered to close behind him after entering.

Ludwig knew that he didn't have any actual choice when it came to following him or not. He sighed and then rose from the table, allowing himself a few moments to scrape his uneaten breakfast into the garbage can and set his plate and cups in the sink. Normally, he would never leave the house without washing all of the dishes and cutlery, but he rather doubted that Gilbert could stand waiting that long. He would just do it when he returned home.

Perhaps Gilbert's issue would resolve itself quickly? Except that Ludwig knew that this was merely wishful thinking.

He followed his brother outside, turning to lock the door behind him. Gilbert made a sound of impatience and repeated, "Come on, we've got to hurry!"

"Why?" He was rather annoyed by this refusal to answer his questions. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!" Gilbert exclaimed, before he turned and began sprinting toward the gravel path that led to the nearby beach. _That_ made warning bells immediately begin ringing in Ludwig's mind. If Gilbert was panicking and it involved the ocean... "Just hurry up!"

Ludwig reluctantly followed, easily catching up to his brother within a few moments. He ran down this path every morning, as part of his daily exercise routine. "Is somebody hurt?" he asked.

Gilbert turned his head slightly and panted out, "No, although someone's _going_ to be if we don't get there in time."

Ludwig wasn't entirely sure if his brother was referring to _him_ or someone else. The obvious irritation in his tone, however, was enough to make him decide that it would probably be best to just wait for an answer. He'd find out what was going on eventually.

It only took about ten minutes to reach the beach from Ludwig's home. Gilbert immediately put on an extra burst of speed when they reached the rocky shore, heading straight toward the pier. Ludwig could see two figures, one standing on the end nearest to the beach, the other seated at the opposite end of the dock with his legs dangling over the water. Beneath him was a dark shape that could have been another person, although it was difficult to tell.

The figure closest to the beach raised both arms and waved toward them. As they approached, Ludwig could hear, "She's still here, mon ami!"

Who was this 'she'?

Gilbert slowed significantly at those words, giving Ludwig the chance to catch up again. He could see instant relief pass over his brother's face, even as he panted, completely out of breath.

The figure on the pier stepped down onto the beach and approached them. One of Gilbert's two best friends, Francis Bonnefoy. Ludwig would assume that the other figure on the dock was Antonio, his other friend.

"You found him. That is good," Francis said to Gilbert, as they moved closer. He seemed oddly-nervous. He kept turning his head toward the end of the dock, where Ludwig could just make out the seated figure of their friend, as if checking to make sure he was still there.

"What's going on?" Ludwig asked.

He knew that if anyone was going to answer his questions, it'd be Francis. Out of the three of them, he was the most trustworthy. Although that wasn't saying much, since the trio were well-known throughout their sleepy village for being troublemakers, and Ludwig knew better than to trust any of them entirely.

"Gilbert dropped his cross in the ocean."

Oh... That explained Gilbert's panic. Ludwig knew what that pendant meant to his older brother. It was the Teutonic cross, given to him years ago by their beloved uncle Fritz. Gilbert had always worshiped the older man and, since his death, considered that pendant to be his most precious possession.

If it had fallen into the ocean, though, then...it was gone. It'd take a miracle to find it.

But, Francis and Gilbert were now moving back onto the pier. Not even going underneath, where they would logically have to go to begin searching. Ludwig followed, confused.

Antonio didn't even seem to notice his approach. He was too busy speaking to...someone. "Aren't they delicious? Madre and I grow the tomatoes on our farm! I bet you don't have tomatoes under the ocean. I don't think they could grow down there."

Whatever Ludwig had been expecting, it was not what he found. He approached the end of the dock, glancing down curiously toward the water.

And met a pair of hazel eyes, staring right back up at him.

"Ludwig!" Antonio finally seemed to notice that he was standing right beside him. He lifted his head, flashing him a brilliant smile before he returned his attention to the dark-haired girl currently staring at them from the water. "This is our new friend! I don't know what her name is, but she likes tomatoes!"

She wasn't wearing a top...

Ludwig's brain had completely short-circuited at this realization. There was a girl, in the water... Topless. One of her hands was tightly gripping the closest pillar, presumably to keep herself in place, the other was wrapped around a half-eaten sandwich. She frowned as he continued to stare at her, unable to turn his eyes away.

Gilbert snorted. "Yeah, she's got tits. She's a bitch, though, so don't even bother."

Ludwig had actually managed to forget about his brother's presence. Now he jerked his gaze away, horrified by his own staring.

Francis was smirking at him. Gilbert was scowling, which definitely emphasized the strangeness of the situation. Normally he'd be making lewd comments and making fun of him for being 'a pervert'.

"I...um..."

Gilbert rolled his eyes and then pointed toward the girl. "She stole my cross."

What?

Ludwig's eyes automatically returned to the girl, who had apparently lost interest in their conversation and was now eyeing the sandwich again. She opened her mouth and Ludwig suddenly noticed...

Her teeth.

They were sharper than any normal person's teeth, more like a shark or piranha or some other carnivorous animal. She tore a piece of the sandwich off in a freakily-violent motion and he noticed, at the same moment, that there were five slits down the visible side of her throat.

_What_?

"You've gotta get it back from her! I tried getting it, but she threw a rock at me!"

"You scared her, Gil," Antonio responded. "Even if she can't understand us, I'm pretty sure she realized that you were angry."

"She stole my cross!"

"Technically, cher, you dropped it on her. It wasn't 'stealing', so much as she's refusing to return it."

"Shut the fuck up, Francis."

Ludwig felt like the metaphorical rug of the world had been yanked out from underneath his feet. He could only stare in amazement as the girl released the pillar and floated backwards. In the process, revealing that instead of a pair of legs, her lower-half instead consisted of a long, red-colored tail.

The word immediately burst into his head, despite Ludwig's attempt to mentally deny the reality. A _mermaid_.

"No, this is..." This was impossible. If there was one thing Ludwig knew, it was that mermaids didn't exist. They were mythical creatures. Key word being 'mythical'.

"Incredible, isn't it?" Francis remarked. He sounded much, much too calm right now. "There's so much we have left to learn about the ocean, apparently."

Gilbert frowned as he glanced between his panicking-brother and smirking-best friend. "Dude, you freaking out 'cause she's a mermaid apparently? Who cares about that? She's a thief!"

Maybe he was dreaming, right now? He had to be. There was no way...

Except, his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a sudden impact against the side of his head; something wet and slimy slapped against him and then plopped onto the wet pier. He looked down and saw a large clump of seaweed.

"Mermaid, don't throw things at Ludwig!"

"Told you she was a bitch."

The girl finally made a sound, which sounded like something halfway between the clicking of a dolphin and a human's mocking laughter. She used her tail to propel herself underwater, earning an exclamation of panic from Gilbert, but then she reappeared closer to the pier. Although, Ludwig noted, she was taking care to remain out of reach of Antonio.

Francis suddenly stepped forward, passing Ludwig to stand next to Antonio. The mermaid eyed him warily, but he just smiled and then turned his head toward Ludwig. "She is a real mermaid, I'm relatively certain. I also believe that she's intelligent, although she obviously doesn't understand English."

"She doesn't understand Spanish either," Antonio helpfully added. "I asked her where she came from in Spanish and she didn't answer."

Ludwig honestly had no idea what to think or do, right now. He couldn't believe... Maybe this was just a prank. He wouldn't put it past these three to hire a girl to put on a very realistic mermaid tail just to mess around with him.

The only problem with that theory was Gilbert's obvious panic. He was shifting his weight between his feet, his gaze entirely focused on the mermaid girl.

"You're sure she has the pendant?" Ludwig finally asked.

Maybe she was a girl that they'd hired, but Gilbert had legitimately lost his cross? Maybe she was a foreigner and they couldn't communicate for that reason.

Ludwig knew that theory was filled with holes, but he was going to go with it, because he couldn't accept that this girl was an actual, real-life mermaid. His mind wasn't equipped to handle that type of reality.

Gilbert nodded. "She's holding it in her hand. I'm pretty sure, at least."

"We thought that you might be able to help retrieve it," Francis added. "You're the strongest. We thought that we could perhaps get one of those large fishing nets..."

Antonio tuned his head back toward them and frowned, "You can't use a fishing net on her. You might hurt her."

"You got a better idea?" Gilbert demanded.

Antonio shrugged and then said, "Maybe we can trade something? I don't have any more tomatoes, but maybe she'd like something else." He turned back to the fish-girl, who was eyeing them with a very obvious frown. She clearly didn't understand _what_ they were saying, but she probably knew that they were talking about her.

Ludwig wondered why she was even here. If she was a real mermaid, which she wasn't, then why had she revealed herself to a bunch of humans?

"She hasn't tried to _do_ anything?" he asked. Like drown anyone? Wasn't that part of the mermaid mythos, that they liked dragging unsuspecting sailors down into the ocean?

Francis shook his head. "No, we didn't even realize that she was here at first. We were just sitting on the dock, talking about things. Gilbert's tie must have broken somehow, because he moved his head and all of a sudden the pendant fell down, right between the boards before we could move. Of course," he eyed Gilbert now, "he started freaking out. We were about to go underneath to try to find it, but then a girl's head popped up out of the water beside the dock."

"I think she wanted to give it back!" Antonio interrupted.

Francis shrugged. "Possibly, but as soon as Gilbert saw that she was holding it, he starts screaming at her to give it back. She didn't like that, threw a rock at him, and swam away. That's when we saw her tail."

"She came back, though!" Antonio added, again. He seemed oddly-fine with this development. "I offered her some of my sandwich and she really liked it!"

Ludwig honestly didn't know how to respond to this. A girl was swimming in the water, topless. She had a mermaid tail that at least _looked_ real. She'd stolen-or at least, was refusing to give back-his brother's prized pendant.

This was making him tired. He wished he could just go home and finish eating his breakfast, except he'd thrown out the remnants of his meal already.

"A net seems rather extreme," he finally stated. He didn't really like the idea of using a _net_ to capture a creature that looked at least half-human. "Maybe we could find some other method of communication?"

He supposed that he was going to have to be the one to try. He sighed and then walked to the very edge of the dock. She stared up at him, still frowning. She crossed her arms over her chest, which was _extremely_ relieving. It also drew his attention to the small, black and silver cross that was tied around her wrist.

A trade _did_ seem like the best option. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a ten dollar bill. "Hello, um...mermaid."

That was a sentence he never thought he'd utter.

"I don't think mermaids use money like that," Antonio commented helpfully. He was still sitting on the edge of the pier, his feet dangling over the water. Which seemed unsafe. Even if the girl hadn't done anything _yet_ , she could still pull him down into the water at any moment, and then _Ludwig_ would be forced to save him.

She was also remaining close to Antonio, perhaps waiting for a moment to strike.

Ludwig wished he had something better, but she might be distracted by the images on the bill. At the very least, she'd hopefully move close enough for him to grab his brother's pendant from her wrist. He slowly crouched down and held the bill out, so she could see it clearly. "Look, if you return my brother's necklace, I'll give you this."

She continued frowning, but did seem at least curious about the bill. She floated slightly closer, looking up to watch him for any sudden movement, obviously expecting this to be a trap.

He remained entirely still, tense as he waited for her to reach out toward him. When she did, he'd-

Except that he suddenly was being smacked in the face with a clump of seaweed. Again.

"Luddy!"

That wasn't concern in his brother's voice; that was annoyance, because he knew that he'd dropped the bill into the water. The clump of seaweed slid down his face and into his lap and he wished-not for the first time-that he'd been born an only child.

The girl was laughing at him again. She also was holding his ten dollars in her hands. She twisted it back and forth in her hands, then dipped it under the water and lifted it back into the air. She raised it to her nose and sniffed it, then made a disgusted noise and tossed it over her shoulder.

"Well, it was a good attempt," Francis offered with a slight shrug.

"Dude, that fucking sucked," Gilbert disagreed. "Why would a mermaid want ten bucks? That pendant's worth at least fifty, for one thing."

"I don't think it was the _amount_ of money that was the problem, mon ami."

Ludwig wanted to go home and take a nap. After a shower.


	2. Chapter 2

Lovina was really starting to regret the promise she made to her sister, that she wouldn't drown any of these stupid humans. It was so _tempting_ and she felt like she'd be totally justified. They were loud, after all, and their stupidity was annoying her. Also, the big one had the nerve to hand her a piece of garbage that smelled terrible, like he thought she was a brainless guppy or something.

Just because she didn't understand their ugly, human language didn't mean that she was stupid. She knew trash when she saw it.

At least she'd been able to make her displeasure clear, by throwing a ball of seaweed into his stupid face. Humans were annoyingly dense, but no one would be able to misinterpret _that_.

She yawned and floated on her back, watching the humans out of the corner of her eye as they talked amongst themselves. The loudest one-the one she'd thrown a rock at-kept turning to glare at her, but she just ignored him and continued to soak up the warmth from the sun, listening carefully for the approach of any other humans.

She was potentially going to be in so much trouble for this, since she'd broken one of the biggest rules of mermaid society by revealing herself to these humans. If anyone found out, then Grandfather would probably follow through with the long-existing threat to lock her inside the palace, which would be both annoying and inconvenient.

Not that she wouldn't be able to escape without too much difficulty; she just had more important things to think about right now than potential escape routes.

Namely, the human that was currently sitting above the water, smiling at her while completely ignoring his friends.

_That_ human was the reason why she'd been hiding under the dock in the first place.

Not that he was the entire reason. She and her little sister, Feli, had always enjoyed exploring the shoreline, despite the potential human-danger present. It was easier to find beautiful shells in the shallow water, after all, and humans were always dropping interesting things into the ocean. They just had to be careful. They avoided areas where the humans were most plentiful and would only search when the sun was away, things like that.

She'd discovered this dock on one of those scavenging missions. It was a perfect place to search for items; it was located on a beach that the humans generally avoided, but was occasionally visited by young humans who seemed _particularly_ stupid and often dropped things between the slats. She'd found plenty of little trinkets, which she then took back to her sister.

She also liked it because there were plenty of mussels, crabs, and fish living underneath, which served as convenient treasure-hunting snacks.

There were plenty of reasons to spend time underneath this particular dock; it just so happened that another reason revealed itself one early morning. She'd been searching among the stones underneath the pier for trinkets when she heard the unwelcome sound of a human approaching. Nothing to panic about, she'd just stay still until they left, but still an irritating interruption. She'd settled down, out of sight and annoyed, but resigned to a boring wait. But then, she heard something...

It took her a moment to identify it, mainly because she'd never _heard_ human speech sound...pleasant.

He was talking to himself, but in a sort of lilting way that reminded her of whale-songs. He was making these sounds as he walked along the dock, his steps creating an accompanying tapping melody as he walked to the very end. There, he settled down with his legs dangling over the edge and stopped making the melodious sounds for a moment. Soon, she heard another sound. A sort of twangy thing that she vaguely remembered hearing before.

Although, it _definitely_ hadn't sounded nearly as nice on that previous occasion.

Lovi wasn't sure how long she remained there, listening to the human. She'd been amazed, almost hypnotized by the beautiful sounds that she never expected a _human_ to make. After a while, she was overcome by an intense urge to _look_ at him. She knew it was risky, but if she was careful...

She remembered moving as slowly as possible, scooting herself along the rough, rocky sand as she kept her gaze focused on the dangling feet. She'd slowly inched her way out from underneath the dock and began to slowly float forward, trying to angle herself so she could see him.

All she could really tell was that he had dark hair, similar to hers, and his top half was covered by fabric that was the same color as her tail. She remembered feeling oddly-pleased by this fact. She'd also noticed that his arms were wrapped around something-she had no idea what it was, but it seemed to be the source of the noises-and he was swaying back and forth like seaweed on the ocean floor.

It hadn't been a particularly satisfying glimpse, but apparently it was enough to capture her attention, because she began making excuses to herself about _why_ she should start spending more time underneath this dock: it was a quiet place to rest, there were plenty of mussels to eat, she could search for gifts for Feli...

He wasn't always there and when he was, he was often accompanied by his two annoying, loud friends. Just like this morning. She didn't even try catching a peek at him while they were around; instead, she'd just lie underneath the rotting wood and listen as the unfamiliar sounds of their weird language washed over her.

On a normal day, at least, but today had differed. She was half-asleep when she heard a soft plink in the water right beside her ear. She turned her head, curious, and then jolted in surprise when she heard _screams_ from one of the humans above her.

It was an incredible overreaction. Also, she'd always known she disliked the white-haired one most.

She wasn't entirely sure why she decided to reveal herself to them. She hadn't really taken the time to think through her actions after grabbing the small, shiny thing that had fallen beside her. The thought had passed through her mind that this might be a chance to finally interact with the human that she'd already mentally started referring to as _hers_ â€”only as a way to differentiate him from the others, though. Nobody better think it meant anything more than that.

She was just curious to see his face. Maybe she could try to communicate and see how intelligent he _actually_ was.

Lovi really didn't give herself time to think. She just took a moment to grab the shiny object, then swam up to the surface. She popped out of the water right in front of her human, lifted her eyes upwards, and gazed into his dark-green, rather surprised eyes for the first time.

Her first thought was that he was absolutely _beautiful_.

Her second thought was a hurried addition. Well, he was beautiful for a _human_. You couldn't compare him to her own kind, of course. After all, humans had ugly-looking leg things. His weren't _quite_ as hideous as most, but still...

He said something to her, his tone obviously surprised. She couldn't give less of a fuck about what he was trying to communicate, since she was focused on other things, but then his white-haired she-assumed-friend had to interrupt her observation. He came over and yelled at her, motioning toward her hand. It didn't take her long to realize that he wanted his shiny thing back, but he kept shouting at her and then he started making aggressive, annoyed motions toward _her_ human.

So, Lovi threw a rock at him.

She regretted nothing about that decision, even if it did seem to upset her human. He immediately jumped up with a startled exclamation and then hurried over to his friend, making worried noises over him. She glared at them; it wasn't like it was a _big_ rock.

It maybe wasn't the _best_ first impression, though. Maybe. Whatever, humans were apparently wimps.

It was at that moment that her rationality caught up with her. She'd just revealed herself to a bunch of humans, which was something she could get in _big_ trouble for. She should leave right then, but... What if her human left and never came back? If she was going to get in trouble anyway, then she might as well get something out of this...

She wasn't entirely sure _what_ she wanted to get out of this, but she'd figure it out.

Her human returned after a few moments. The white-haired one had apparently left, thankfully, and the other one had apparently decided to remain on the beach.

She perked up-not that she was excited; she was just bored-when he sat back down on the edge of the dock and then smiled at her in a way that made her stomach do nervous flip-flops. He leaned back slightly on his arms, stared up at the sky for a moment, and then started talking to her.

Somehow not realizing that she couldn't understand his language? He'd say things, then tilt his head and smile at her like he expected a response.

He didn't seem particularly disappointed when she didn't answer, at least. He continued speaking to her for a while, but then seemed to decide on a different tactic. He dug around in a little brown pouch that had been resting on the dock and pulled out something... It was a smaller pouch, but she could see the item inside. It was white and square, with little bits of green and red poking out from the sides.

He removed this item from the pouch, then tore it in half, and then, after making sure that she was watching, took a bite from one of the halves.

Ah, so it was food. Human food.

He leaned out toward her, waving the other half of whatever-it-was in the air while saying stupid human words. She eyed it suspiciously for a moment, but then swam slightly closer. She wasn't going to get close enough for him to touch her, but she could stretch her arm out and grab the offered food.

She immediately began to examine it after floating back to her previous spot. It was a strange thing. She lifted it to her nose and sniffed; it didn't smell like anything she'd ever smelled before and it squished slightly beneath her fingers. There was something green inside that sort of looked like seaweed and something else that was red and circular.

She looked back up at the human and received a huge, excited grin. He motioned toward the item and said a couple words that sounded encouraging. She glanced back down and then decided... Why the fuck not? She didn't think he'd be stupid enough to try to poison her. She took a bite.

It was the most delicious thing she'd ever tasted.

Not the squishy outside, that was more like the shell of a mussel, something boring and tasteless to bite through so you could get to the actual delicious thing inside. And by 'delicious thing', she meant that weird, circular red thing. She had no idea what it was, but it was sort of tangy and juicy and she immediately wanted more.

He seemed to understand that she enjoyed his offering, because he suddenly laughed and said some more words. She ignored him and focused on eating the rest of whatever he'd offered her. Apparently humans were good for _something_ , because this was amazing and she needed more.

Unfortunately, however, that was the moment when the white-haired human returned. And with him came a _new_ human. The one who, after talking with the others, decided to offer her actual _trash_.

She immediately disliked him.

He and the other two began talking with each other, but her human remained near her. He wasn't smiling as widely, though, and he kept glancing back toward the others and saying things to them. She wondered what they were talking about; she knew they wanted the shiny thing, but they were being stupid and she'd rather keep it to give to Feli...

He suddenly waved to her, distracting her from the other humans. He smiled again, then said a word, pointing to himself before motioning toward her.

...What?

He frowned, seemingly disappointed by her confusion. He pointed by himself, said the word again. It sounded something like, "Antonio." Then he pointed toward her again and tilted his head to the side, before pouting in a way that was annoyingly cute.

Was 'Antonio' his name? That seemed to be what he was trying to say by pointing to himself. And he must be asking for her name...

That sent a thrill of excitement through her. She knew her human's name now and he wanted to communicate with her. She hurriedly swam closer to the dock, although she managed to regain logical control of herself before she moved within grabbing-distance.

Stop being stupid. He was a _human_. Nothing to get overly excited about, even if he did give her delicious food and smile at her in a way that made her stomach flip.

She pointed toward herself and stated her name, feeling slightly annoyed when she realized her voice was shaking slightly. Stupid. Get a hold of yourself.

He sat there for a moment, shaping the sounds with his mouth before he said, "Lovina?"

His pronunciation was strange, but she supposed she could accept a mild mutilation of her name. She nodded and he immediately lit up. "Lovina!" He reached out toward her. "Beautiful Lovina."

She had no idea what the first word meant, but it sounded like a compliment. She decided to try his name out for herself.

"Antonio?"

Lovi was pretty sure that she'd never seen _anyone_ overreact so incredibly to something as simple as her saying their name. The human burst into the brightest smile she'd seen yet and then jumped to his feet, turning toward the other three humans.

And then started shouting at them and waving his arms and she was legitimately worried that he'd just lost his mind.

The only word she could identify in his tirade was her own name, which he kept repeating. The other three stared at him with expressions ranging from amusement to bewilderment and then, irritatingly, all of them moved down to join him and stare at her.

She scowled up at them.

"Francis," Antonio suddenly said, very slowly so she could make out the individual sounds. He pointed to the human who had so far annoyed her the least, the blond one who now smiled and waved at her. He then pointed to the angry white-haired one. "Gilbert."

He rolled his eyes and said something back to Antonio that made him frown slightly. His smile quickly returned, however, when he pointed to the last human. "Ludwig!"

Great, now she knew the names of a group of obnoxious humans.

And now he pointed toward the shiny thing that she'd tied around her wrist while waiting for them to stop being stupid. "Cross. Gilbert."

Yeah, she was aware it was 'Gilbert's'. Hadn't known what it was called, but she also didn't really care.

He pointed toward Gilbert again, as if he thought she was still confused. "Gilbert."

Lovi rolled her eyes and flicked her tail, splashing water toward them. She didn't like people acting like she was stupid.

They all jumped back, which amused her.

It really was a matter of principle now; she didn't particularly want this 'cross', but she couldn't just give it back to them.

Lovi eyed the brown pouch that Antonio had removed the food from earlier. She _may_ be willing to trade the cross for more of whatever food it was that he gave her.

She pointed toward the bag. 'That,' she said in her language.

He looked puzzled for a moment, but then seemed to realize what she wanted. "Sandwich?"

Sure, whatever. Stupid human words. She held out her wrist, shaking the cross. Then she pointed toward the pouch again, making it clear that she was only planning on giving the stupid thing back if they made a trade.

He nodded, then turned toward his friends, said something quickly, and ran off.

Which meant she now had to wait for him to return, which was obnoxious.

She sighed and returned to floating on her back, completely ignoring the other humans. She knew that she needed to head back home soon; someone may have noticed that she was missing already and if they _had_ , then she'd have to come up with an explanation for where she'd been and she was too tired to do that right now.

She supposed that she could just say that she fell asleep somewhere. Maybe she actually _would_ go fall asleep somewhere before returning. That sounded like a pretty fucking amazing idea...

And she actually _may_ have started falling asleep right then and there. Not that she'd ever admit to doing something like that. She must have, though, since she didn't notice the humans' attention shift to a spot farther out to sea. At least, not until she heard something that she absolutely had not expected or _wanted_ to hear...

"Ve~ There you are, Lovi!"

The shout came from right behind her and was accompanied by a heavy weight smashing into her and pushing her underwater. There was a moment of disorientation, but then she hurriedly righted herself and spun around, already knowing exactly who she'd see.

"Feli, what the fuck are you doing here?"

Her little sister, Feli, giggled and did a flip right in front of her. "Hi, Lovi! I found you!"

Why wasn't she more surprised by this? Her sister had just popped up, out of nowhere and she honestly wasn't shocked at all. She was just annoyed, because this put a stupid kink into her plans. Goodbye, delicious 'sandwich'...

She couldn't actually find it in her to be mad at her sister, unfortunately. Feli was smiling at her with complete adoration, obviously proud of herself for finding her. All Lovi could do was sigh and pat her on the head and thank everything that her sister was observant as fuck. She apparently hadn't even noticed the humans' existence...

"Were you looking for treasures, Lovi? Did you find anything?" Feli did another flip, her tail breaking the surface of the water in the process.

"Watch it," Lovi grabbed her arm and pulled her into deeper water. "Nothing interesting, so you should go back home."

Feli pouted. "But, Lovi. You just _left_ without asking if I wanted to come with you! I wanted to go treasure-hunting too." She pouted in a way that wasn't at all adorable.

"Yeah, well..." She'd gone off on her own for two reasons. First, she wanted to find something special _for_ Feli, so obviously she couldn't come with her. Second... well, she hadn't wanted her sister to find out that she was watching a human. For a multitude of reasons. She might get the wrong idea, for one thing! This was...scientific observation.

They might need to someday come up with a plan for dealing with the stupid humans, after all; her research would be invaluable, then!

Lovi was interrupted from her thoughts at that moment, however, by a loud splash coming from the area next to the dock. Her sister, as unobservant as she might be, couldn't possibly ignore that.

"Ve~ What?"

She probably noticed the human swimming toward them at the exact moment Lovi did. It was the biggest one, Ludwig. The one who gave her the garbage. He was traveling through the water toward them with slow, but steady strokes.

Goddamnit.

Feli stared at the human in total bewilderment for a few moments, obviously shocked. She'd never seen a human close-up before; she'd probably never realized how ugly they could actually be. Lovi hurriedly grabbed at her sister's hand, ready to drag her away and swim back home...

But Feli was already gone, swimming toward the human. "Ve~ I'll save you!"

...Wait, what?

Lovi watched in complete bewilderment as her little sister swam straight toward the human, faster than her sister had ever seen her move, and grabbed onto his arm. "Don't worry, I've got-" but she was cut-off when he jerked backwards in surprise, yanking her with him. "Ve~ Wait!"

Oh God, her stupid, idiotic...

Lovi immediately began traversing the water between them, half-worried that her sister was going to accidentally drown the human. Not that she'd care all that much, but then Feli would cry and the other humans would probably be infuriated and Antonio would be upset.

How stupid could she be? Lovi lifted her head out of the water beside the two of them. Ludwig was obviously trying to escape her sister's grip, while Feli was trying to...save him, Lovi assumed. Mostly by clinging to his arm and trying to drag it upwards. It was not having the desired effect.

Lovi sighed and rolled her eyes before reaching to grab her sister's arm and drag her away from the bastard. "He's not drowning, stupid."

"Ve~?" Feli immediately turned to stare at her with wide, confused eyes.

She couldn't believe she had to explain this. Granted, Feli wasn't particularly good at remembering things that didn't directly affect her, but still. "Humans don't automatically drown when they're in the ocean. Some of them can swim. Just not very well, obviously." She flicked her tail. Obviously not very well with their ugly leg-things. "You know this. You've _seen_ them in the water before."

They'd always been standing in the shallow water, though, so she supposed she could _sort_ of understand her sister's confusion.

Feli blinked, then glanced toward the human who had moved away, but was still floating closer to them than Lovi felt was appropriate. He was rather obviously _not_ drowning.

"Oh," was all Feli said after taking note of this fact. "Oops."

Ludwig said something-and Lovi found it rather amazing how the human language could sound fine when Antonio spoke, but so ugly coming from anyone else. He said her name, a few other words, then she caught the word "cross."

Goddamnit, she didn't care about the stupid cross. She just wanted Antonio to come back with her snack and maybe teach her a few more human words. For research purposes, of course.

Unfortunately, this particular human apparently didn't _want_ her to get her snack. It was like they were all crazy. The cross wasn't that exciting.

He even now turned to her little sister like a creepy bastard, saying at least a dozen words that meant nothing to her; the only one she could identify was "Gilbert."

Feli obviously had absolutely no idea what he was saying, but she did seem to figure something out, as she suddenly turned toward Lovina.

"Lovi, did you do something to the humans?"

That was the moment Lovi knew she was in trouble, because Feli was now staring at her with a frown tugging at her lips and her arms crossed across her chest and ugh... Lovi hated when Feli looked disapproving. It so rarely happened that it always made her feel unbearably guilty, even if she hadn't done anything wrong.

"No, of course not," she hurriedly denied. "Why would I do anything to the stupid humans? Just because they're idiots who drop things all the time doesn't mean I _did_ anything."

"Ve~ Lovi..." Her frown deepened as she turned her head toward the dock, where Francis and Gilbert were standing and staring at them. Gilbert waved his arms and shouted something that was swallowed up by the distance between them.

"Okay, fine," Lovi crossed her own arms over her chest in a mimicking posture. "I may have...borrowed something they dropped off the dock and they _may_ want it back. I am going to give it back, though. I'm just waiting."

"Lovi, you shouldn't steal!"

Lovi rolled her eyes at her sister's scandalized tone. "It's not stealing. I said I'm just waiting."

"For what?"

"Lovina!"

For that.

Lovi hurriedly shoved her sister's head underwater, earning a surprised squeak in response. "Stay down!"

There was no way she was letting Antonio see Feli. The idiot would probably start fussing over her, want to know _her_ name, and then her little sister would end up getting a big head.

She hurriedly began swimming toward the dock where he was standing with a large basket of red ball-like things. He set it down and waved toward her. Possibly also toward Ludwig, who was following her at a much slower pace, but she'd rather assume Antonio was only interested in waving at _her_.

He was leaning over the water, one of the red balls extended over the waves, when she reached him. "Hi, Lovina!"

The first word sounded like a greeting. She repeated the sound in her head and then responded, slowly, "Hi, Antonio."

He lit up like a sunbeam at that. "Hi! Hi!" Then he waved the red ball toward her. "Tomato!"

"To-mato?"

It obviously was _not_ whatever it was he'd given her earlier. This was a bright red ball. She took it from his hand and then poked it; it wasn't entirely hard, but not as squishy as the brown thing that she'd eaten earlier.

Antonio nodded and then took another of the tomatoes from his basket. He checked to make sure that she was watching, and then took a huge bite from the presumable food object. Streaks of juice ran down his chin, which he wiped away with the back of his hand before sending her another smile.

She eyed her own, then opened her mouth and tore out a chunk with her teeth.

And found herself in instant paradise.

It was the same thing she'd tasted inside the other food, but this time there wasn't the soft covering or other flavors to distract her. There was just this singular, delicious taste filling her mouth with its tangy, heavenly juice. She finished the tomato quickly and then immediately extended her hand for another.

Antonio giggled, but then shook his head and motioned toward her wrist. "Gilbert."

Ugh... Gilbert was obviously not even _close_ to as important as her receiving more tomatoes, but Lovi supposed she could give it back. This was a trade after all, although she had no idea how she'd get the tomatoes back home. She supposed that she could just remain near the surface for a while; there was a cave relatively-nearby where she could hide them for at least a little while.

Ludwig had reached the pier by now and was hanging onto the edge with one arm. He watched as she untied the cross thing from around her wrist and then held out his hand. She ignored him and, instead, extended her arm toward Antonio.

But then she felt a heavy weight smash against her back. "Lovi!"

And it felt like the world slowed down. She watched, unable-or perhaps unwilling-to move, as the cross slipped from her fingers and plopped right into the water.

She could hear Gilbert start shouting again, but at this point...

Fuck it. She used her tail to propel herself upwards, grabbed the wooden slats of the pier, and lifted herself up so she could grab the basket of tomatoes. Then, she dropped back into the water, keeping her basket of treats cradled against her chest, and grabbed her sister's arm. "Come on," she muttered.

She did love her sister, she had to remind herself, even if she didn't always _like_ her.

Ludwig had already dived under the water, which provided her with the perfect opportunity to escape. She yanked her sister away, but not before she saw Antonio lift his arm and wave it toward her frantically. "Lovina!"

She had to ignore him. She saw Ludwig rise from the water, a small shiny object held in his hand, then she dove underneath the waves and left them behind.

If she ever went back, she thought, she was going to make absolutely _certain_ that she locked her sister up beforehand.


	3. Chapter 3

"Dude, I can't decide if this is the awesomest thing I've ever seen or the grossest thing ever."

"I am going to go with _disgusting_ , mon ami. I'm almost entirely certain that it's still wriggling."

"Aw, man, it totally is! Yo! Ludwig! Come over here and watch this!"

Ludwig wished he were home right now. He could be sitting on his porch, enjoying a cold beer while the sea-breeze swept over him and fireflies danced under a full moon. If he closed his eyes, he could almost picture the scene. Tranquil, idyllic...

But then his brother had to open his mouth, again.

"Come on!" Ludwig opened his eyes and turned his head toward the dock where Gilbert was standing and waving his arms toward his brother like an overenthusiastic windmill. "Hurry up, old man!" he shouted.

Ludwig should point out that his brother was older than him by three years, but it wouldn't make any difference. Gilbert didn't believe in things like logic.

He sighed, but pulled himself out of his comfortable folding chair and began to cross the sand to join his annoying older brother. "What is it?"

Gilbert turned toward the sea, pointing. "Look!"

Ludwig looked, Ludwig saw a mermaid, Ludwig wished the world would go back to making the quasi-sense it used to make. Because, in his current reality, he found himself completely unsurprised to see a mermaid floating on her back a few yards away from the dock he was standing on.

"Look!" Gilbert grabbed his arm and shook it wildly. "Did you see?! She bit that fish's head right off! With her teeth!"

No, because Ludwig was avoiding looking too closely at her. While her bottom half was fish-like, her top half was definitely human and, also, entirely uncovered. It was indecent to stare at any girl-like creature's chest.

He knew that Gilbert wasn't going to let him return to his chair until he looked, though, so he steadied himself mentally and turned toward her.

Thankfully, she was ignoring them, her attention instead focused on the rather large fish that she was tearing apart with razor-sharp, piranha-like teeth. It wasn't the most appealing thing to watch.

"Oi, Tonio! Did you see?"

"I know, isn't Lovi so cool?"

Ludwig turned his head away from the girl to see Antonio walking up the dock, dressed in a pair of swim trunks and googles, with a pair of flippers under his arm and a large, duck floaty around his waist.

Francis snickered from where he was sitting on the dock. "I like your floaty, mon cher!"

Antonio smiled cheerfully and made his way to the end of the dock, where he sat down and began to slide the flippers onto his feet.

Ludwig wondered what he was planning. He knew that Antonio couldn't swim very well, hence the floaty.

The mermaid's attention had been captured by their new arrival. She stopped eating and flipped over onto her stomach, watching them with only her head poking above water.

Antonio waved, one flipper securely on his foot. "Hi, Lovi!"

"Are you going to try to swim with her?" Francis and Gilbert had both joined them. Francis sat down beside his friend, while Gilbert chose to remain standing and stared out to sea with the look of an arrogant captain.

"SÃ!" He pulled the other flipper onto his foot and began adjusting the straps. "I'm going to see Lovi in the water!"

"But," there were so many ways this could go wrong. For one thing, while Antonio trusted the girl implicitly, Ludwig's own feelings were a bit more complicated. While 'Lovina' had never tried to actually hurt them, she was obviously a predator. They couldn't communicate with her clearly, although Antonio was slowly teaching her more and more words in English. And while Ludwig had felt that it was safe enough to get into the water with the girl after first meeting her, only a month or so ago, he was also the strongest swimmer in their group. Antonio was the weakest.

Lovina was swimming toward them now. She stopped a few yards away and stared at the flippers on Antonio's feet with an expression of bewilderment.

Antonio kicked his feet, showing her how they moved in the water. "They're like your tail!" he explained.

Ludwig wasn't sure if she understood his words or not. She sent the flippers a look of obvious distaste, but that didn't necessarily mean anything.

"Are you sure about this?" Francis asked, looking slightly worried. Although, apparently not worried enough to stop him.

"Of course!" Antonio continued smiling, as if to reassure everyone that he knew exactly what he was doing. "It'll be fun!"

Gilbert cut in. "If you drown, can I have your Pokémon cards?"

"I guess so!" Antonio scooted over to where he could use the dock's posts to help him into the water. "I'm not going to drown, though."

He'd better not. Ludwig really wasn't sure how he would even begin to explain this situation to the police.

~.~.~

Lovina had no idea what the fuck her stupid human, Antonio, was trying to do.

Yes, he was obviously getting into the water, but what the fuck had he put on his feet? They reminded her a bit of a sea turtle's feet, but obviously his hadn't been attached already. He was also wearing some sort of bright yellow thing around his waist, which she vaguely remembered seeing before, when watching baby humans wade in the shallow water.

Was he pretending to be a baby human?

That was the stupidest thing she ever heard.

He was now floating in the water, the yellow thing having moved up to his chest. He was using his arms like paddles as he talked to the stupid humans who were still on the dock. She remained a safe distance away, waiting to see what he was going to do.

She assumed that the attached feet were meant to help him swim better, but what in the world was the yellow thing? That would just make you slow and clumsy.

"Lovi!" Now he turned toward her, waving an arm like she wasn't right in front of him. He used his arms again to move toward her. She considered swimming away, but he was so slow and obviously not meant for the ocean that she took pity on him and swam slightly closer.

"Hi, Lovi! I wanted to come and swim with you!"

She recognized most of those words, enough to get the gist, at least. 'Swim' was the human word for moving through the water.

"Bad swim," she pointed out.

He blinked, then laughed. "Yeah, I am pretty bad at swimming."

He agreed with her, at least. The other human-the stupid Ludwig one-was slow, but at least he understood how to move his arms and legs effectively in the water. Antonio obviously had no idea what he was doing.

She hesitated for another moment, then moved closer and reached out to touch the yellow thing. It floated on the surface... So, it was a device for baby humans, probably to keep them from sinking underwater, since humans had a tendency to do that.

"Stupid."

He laughed again. "That isn't nice, Lovi!"

She wasn't trying to be nice. 'Nice' wasn't an intelligent trait for a future-queen to have, after all, especially when you had a little sister who was so kind and innocent that you needed somebody in the family to be an asshole, just to keep everything from going bottoms' up.

The human didn't really seem to mind, anyway. He laughed and kicked his feet. She could feel him affecting the water around her in a way that made her feel...a bit strange.

"It's really warm out here." He tilted his head back and closed his eyes, obviously soaking in the rays of the sun.

Lovi loved sunbathing, although it was difficult now to find places where the sun was warm, but humans were unlikely to find them.

She watched him, eyes fixated on the dark lashes that rested against his cheek and the slightly upturned tilt to his lips that revealed his contentment. She felt the incredible urge to suddenly reach out and touch him.

She kept her hands to herself, though. She had her pride, after all, and admitting that something in her was _attracted_ to this clumsy, incredibly delicate creature was something she would never be able to live down.

Besides, she had no idea how these things even _worked_. In the past few weeks, her mind kept running wild, imagining impossible situations where she could have this human as her mate. She imagined that he could have a little house right by the water, like the ones on stilts that she saw when her Nonno took her and her sister to visit other important mermaid kingdoms.

Lovi knew that there were stories about mermaids who mated with humans, but those generally ended rather...terribly for the human. She had no desire to drag him down into the sea with her, even if she wouldn't perhaps mind doing so to the stupid _Ludwig_ one.

"Hmm, Lovi? What're you thinking about?"

She didn't know what those words meant, but she could guess from his tone that he was wondering why she wasn't saying anything. She could feel her skin warm, as she was brought back to reality.

But then, he suddenly did something incredibly unexpected. He reached out toward her and, before she had a chance to respond, he brushed his hand against her forehead.

It was only for a single moment, but Lovi felt all of the blood in her body rush down to her tail, leaving her feeling dizzy and unable to move. He hurriedly jerked his hand back, as if suddenly realizing what he did, but the damage was already done.

"Ah, sorry, Lovi! You got all red, so I wondered if you were getting sunsick. Lo siento. I'm sorry. I shouldn't touch you without asking."

She just stared at him. She should be yelling at him; the rather large portion of her brain that enjoyed being a bitch was very clear on that, but...

Lovi was able to settle a frown on her lips. Antonio's eyes lowered, as if he knew he was about to get scolded. Instead, however, she reached out and brushed her own fingertips against his cheek.

It was rough, which surprised her. She had been expecting his skin to be smooth and soft, but she could feel that it was much rougher and there were little tiny hairs that scratched at her fingers in a way that wasn't entirely unpleasant.

Antonio looked surprised, but then she felt his muscles twitch underneath her touch as he smiled.

"Okay, so now we're even." She didn't understand those words, but the next she did. "Do you like it, Lovi?"

The tone in his voice was odd. He was still smiling, but now his eyes were focused on her own with an intensity that was new. He reached out again and mimicked her movements, settling his own hand on her cheek before it brushed down toward her lips.

She shivered. Now she _really_ should be yelling at him.

Instead, she floated closer, feeling more than a slight hint of annoyance when she felt the stupid yellow thing halt her progress. Antonio chuckled, voice sounding deeper than before. She lifted her head to glare at him.

"Sorry, Lovi."

He'd better be sorry. She was really despising the stupid yellow thing right now.

"Antonio..." She knew that the human liked when she said his name. When he was with his friends, he would always burst into a bright smile and turn to yell at them and then point toward her.

His response now was _slightly_ different, as his focus on her grew even more intense and she saw him swallow. His fingers began to move downwards, slowly cupping around the back of her neck. One of his legs moved, maybe without him realizing, to wrap around her tail.

Right now, a very small percentage of her thoughts were running along familiar rage routes. How dare this human touch her? He did have the excuse that he had no idea who she was, since Lovi didn't really know how to explain to the human how her family and world worked, but _still_... She was going to be the next queen; she shouldn't be letting some human touch her like this.

Most of her thoughts, however, were running along very different lines of 'okay, so let's just make him our mate right here and we can worry about the consequences later.'

"Lovi, I don't know how to say..." He stopped. He swallowed again, eyes still intent on hers. He moved his hand slightly and tangled his fingers in her hair.

Lovina was pretty sure she understood what he wanted to say; she wasn't a total idiot, after all. He wanted _her_ just as much as she wanted _him_ , and that made her feel incredibly pleased with herself right now.

She wasn't entirely sure how that would actually _work_ , but she was sure she could figure it out.

Except, he suddenly released her entirely and, before she could respond, kicked himself a few feet backwards.

"No, no. Sorry, Lovi. I shouldn't..."

What the _fuck_ did he think he was doing?

The expression on her face must have revealed her intense amazement and irritation, because he hurriedly waved his hands in the air between them and began babbling something in his stupid, ugly language. She couldn't understand a word and she didn't care, because all she could focus on right now was the intense feeling of _hurt_.

Why?

She pushed the feeling down as soon as she identified it. Fuck, why was she feeling hurt? Stupid, fucking human. He wasn't good enough to be her mate anyway.

"No, Lovi, it's not... I just can't when you don't even know..."

She wasn't going to stay here and listen to this. Lovi glared at him and then dove under the water. Stupid. This was what she got for interacting with stupid humans. She should have known better. It had just been her own stupidity...

Well, never again. She was never _ever_ going to let anything like this happen again.


	4. Chapter 4

It had been three weeks since Antonio last saw Lovina. Three long weeks, mostly spent kicking himself for being so stupid.

Francis and Gilbert were both sympathetic, in their own ways. Gil mainly seemed to view his friend's current misery as something that should be plied with alcohol. They spent plenty of evenings these last few weeks sitting in lawn chairs on the beach, drinking until the world turned on its head. Antonio even woke up one morning with sand in his mouth and a seagull staring at him from a few feet away, apparently puzzled by his presence on its early-morning beach.

Francis, on the other hand, was more the type to offer a listening ear. He told Antonio that he shouldn't beat himself up over upsetting the mermaid. After all, it was an honest misunderstanding. They couldn't speak the same language.

Although, he admitted, he couldn't quite understand _why_ Antonio pushed the girl away. "It sounds to me like she was making her interest in you rather clear, so I'm not entirely sure what the problem would be. Granted, I can't say I know anything about mermaid courtship and I'm not entirely sure how the mechanics would work..."

Antonio blushed and tried to explain. It wasn't that he _wasn't_ attracted to Lovina-he definitely was, which had, admittedly, made him question a few things about himself-it was that he couldn't know for sure how Lovina felt about him. Yes, he could make assumptions based off her actions, but there was always the chance that he might make a mistake.

He'd rather be safe and not do anything, than take the risk that he might do something she didn't want. He just wished that he could've explained that to her.

Antonio spent most of his evenings on the dock where he first met her now. Sometimes with Francis or Gilbert, but usually by himself. It was a peaceful place; he could sit and watch as the sun set the waves on fire. He spent that time thinking over all sorts of things.

His thoughts often returned to Lovi. He wondered if she was safe. The ocean was a really dangerous place, after all. He also couldn't help but wonder if she was happy. Maybe Lovi moved on already and found herself a nice merboy. The thought made his stomach twist in sadness, but really... It would be for the best. They lived in two different worlds, after all.

The nights were starting to grow cooler. Antonio wasn't sure if he'd continue coming out here once the seasons changed. Even if Lovina wanted to return, he rather doubted that she'd go anywhere close to the surface once winter hit. He wondered what she did during the winter, actually. Did she have a nice, warm home under the waves? Or maybe she swam to a warmer ocean, near the equator.

It would have been nice to ask her these questions. He wondered how mermaids lived. He knew that she had a sister, but what about parents or aunts and uncles?

Antonio stared at the darkening sky and shifted his weight on the wooden boards. He always forgot to bring a cushion to sit on. The soreness in his rear was probably a sign that he should head back. His madre would be finishing up work soon and he needed to start dinner.

He was just about to rise to his feet and begin the trek toward his home when he heard something. It was muffled, but it sounded like...

"Toni-o!"

He definitely hadn't expected that; he almost ended up jumping right off the dock when a head suddenly popped out of the water in front of him. A girl. A mermaid, as made clear when her turquoise-colored tail broke the surface of the water.

For a minute, he just stared at her in amazement, but then he recognized her. Feli, Lovi's sister.

"Toni-o!" She grabbed onto the dock and stared up at him. She looked panicked; her eyes were wide and she gripped the wooden slats so tightly that her fingers turned white.

"Feli? What's wrong?"

He had never actually talked to Feli before. Lovina never brought her to see him, even though he said it would be okay. Apparently, Lovi taught her his name, though.

Unfortunately, it seemed like that was the only English word she knew, since she just stared at him, then repeated his name again before she dove under the water. She returned to the surface in a few seconds and sent him a look of desperation.

"Did something happen to Lovi?"

His own thoughts were turning to panic. Why else would she be here? What happened?

Feli made a sound that he assumed meant something in her language, and then disappeared under the water again. After a few seconds, she returned and sent him another desperate look. He realized that she must want him to follow her.

That was a problem, because he couldn't swim. Not well, at least. He could doggy-paddle and keep himself afloat in calm water, but he wasn't able to swim long distances.

_But_ , Antonio's emotional side of the brain immediately protested. _If Lovi's in trouble, then I need to do something._

He hesitated for a moment, but then shook all logic away and pulled his shirt over his head, dropping it carelessly onto the dock. He had to help. He'd figure out something. He removed his phone from the back pocket of his shorts and hurriedly typed out a message to his mom, ' _gonna b late for dinner. theres leftovers in the fridge.'_

Then, he hurriedly typed out another message to Francis and Gilbert. _'lovis in trouble. come to the beach asap.'_

There wasn't time to wait for them, but maybe they'd be able to follow him or help somehow. If he didn't come back...but he wasn't going to think about that. He placed his phone on top of his shirt and toed off his sandals, setting them on top of his phone. Hopefully everything would still be here when he got back.

He then took a deep breath, sat down on the edge of the dock, and pushed himself into the water.

And yelped, because it was _freezing_.

Feliciana wasn't going to give him time to adjust, though. She made a frantic sort-of-clicking sound at him and then disappeared under the water again. He could see the trail on the surface as she immediately began racing away from the shore. Antonio knew that he wasn't going to be able to keep up, but he was going to try anyway. He walked along the sandy bottom until the water reached his chin, and then began to doggy-paddle after her.

He quickly regretted this choice. He'd always been a terrible swimmer; this was possibly the stupidest decision he ever made. He was struggling in a matter of minutes, water entering his mouth and nose as he tried to keep his head above water. He started to panic, his kicks and paddles becoming more desperate.

But, then the mermaid reappeared beside him. He didn't stop to think; he just reached out and grabbed onto her.

If she was a human, this would have been another terrible choice. Thankfully, she wasn't. She jerked at his touch, but didn't try to drag him underwater or swim away. This gave him the opportunity to catch his breath.

That hurt. His throat burned as he choked and coughed. He had wrapped his arms around her neck and was now clinging to her with a strength that was probably painful, although she didn't complain. He knew he should let go, but his brain apparently wasn't sending the proper orders to his muscles. "Sorry. I'm not very good-" He had to stop to cough for a while. Yeah, that was definitely not a good idea. "I'm not very good at swimming."

She obviously had no idea what he said, but made another noise that seemed reassuring. She then reached up and set her hands on his wrists.

The animalistic part of his brain immediately panicked-she was going to force him to let go, she was going to drown him-but she just loosened his grip and moved his arms down to wrap around her shoulders.

She made another clicking sound, sort of like a dolphin, and turned her head to look at him. Her lips were downturned and she cocked her head to the side, as if asking whether he was okay.

"Thank you." He was never going to tell anyone else about this. Francis and Gilbert would kill him if they ever found out that he almost drowned himself. He should know better, but if Lovi was in trouble...

Ah! Lovi! He almost forgot!

"Feli, can you swim like this?" He paddled a hand in the water, hoping she would understand what he meant. "To Lovi?"

Another click and then her expression changed to something more thoughtful. He felt her move her tail from side to side, and then up and down. It took a few moments, but she eventually figured out the most effective movement and they began to travel forward.

She moved faster than any human, even with his extra weight. It probably wasn't the most graceful-looking thing, but as long as he wasn't struggling and almost drowning.

He wasn't sure how far they traveled. It was much, much farther than he would ever be able to swim by himself. Not that that was saying much.

He could eventually see some shoreline in the distance, along with an outcrop of rocks that she began heading toward. She stopped a few yards away and started to make rapid clicking sounds. She began with a series of staccato beats, then stopped for a few moments before repeating the series and pausing again.

It only took a few seconds before he recognized that she was trying to call to someone. Probably Lovi?

He listened, hoping to hear the response.

It was faint, but eventually he heard it. The soft clicking that obviously made up the mermaid language, mixed with some of the more creative curse words that he knew Gil taught the mermaid. Without his permission, of course.

He felt a wave of relief. If Lovi was okay enough to swear, then she probably wasn't in immediate danger.

He released his grip on Feli and began to clumsily swim toward the sound. He could see that there was a gap in between some of the rocks that made up the outcrop. This seemed to be where Lovi's voice was coming from. As he moved closer, he realized that it was actually a shallow cave.

And inside was Lovina. His beautiful, wonderful Lovi, hopelessly tangled in a large and tightly-woven fishing net.

Antonio could see scuffs on the rock from where she dragged herself into the hiding place. He could also see remnants of netting, what he assumed she managed to tear away with her teeth. He could immediately tell that she wasn't going to be able to escape without help, though. The net was tangled and knotted around her tail and upper body. He knew that she must have struggled, which probably made the situation worse.

He felt his stomach roll in dismay at the sight. She was currently biting at a knot that was keeping her wrist bent at a painful-looking angle. It didn't look like she was making much progress.

"Lovi?"

She jumped, and then spun her head toward him. Her eyes were wide, obviously startled.

"Are you okay, Lovi?" He pulled himself out of the water and squirmed his way into the narrow space, using the same path she obviously had. There was barely enough room for him; he had to crawl forward, carefully keeping his head down. Feli, who had followed him, remained in the water as he moved toward the trapped mermaid. "Do you need help?"

He thankfully couldn't see any major injuries, but there were areas where the ropes were pinching her skin and her palms and elbows and tail were bloody and raw. That was probably caused when she climbed into the cave.

Antonio paused a few feet away, his stomach twisting as he stared at the girl. He knew that he should avoid getting too close until she responded to him. She was probably scared right now and he had felt how muscular and powerful a mermaid's tail could be. He didn't want that strength turned on him.

He needed to help her, though.

For a moment, Lovina just stared at him. It was hard to read her expression in the dim light, but, after what seemed like ages, he heard a sigh and then, "Antonio."

He immediately crawled closer, until he was lying on his stomach right beside her. He reached out and, without thinking, grabbed her free hand. "Are you okay? How did this happen?"

She opened her mouth, but then hesitated. She probably didn't know how to answer the question in English. Antonio felt a twinge of annoyance at this inability to communicate, but hurriedly pushed the emotion away. Anger wasn't going to help anything. He didn't need an explanation anyway; the answer was pretty obvious. Some fishermen left a net somewhere, she got tangled up in it, and then presumably swam here with her sister to try to get herself free without anyone seeing her.

He was grateful that she was able to escape. What would happen to her if someone caught her? Would she get locked up in a zoo or aquarium or studied in a lab? Had that happened before?

He pushed the thought away and reached into his pocket, pulling out the small Swiss army knife that he always carried with him. He was lucky that he hadn't lost it during his almost-drowning. "Don't worry, Lovi. I'll help you get out of this."

He released her hand and reached toward the ropes that were tangled around her wrist, but she suddenly jerked away. "No!"

"No?"

She turned her head to glare at him. "Stupid." She looked at him like _he_ was the one who trapped her here. "Stupid Antonio. Hate you. Go away!"

...Was she still mad about him pushing her away?

"Lovi..."

She tried to smack him with her tail. The netting stopped her, but it was obvious that she was trying to hit him. She made a sound of obvious frustration and then repeated, "Go away!"

He wasn't sure what to do. He turned toward the water and caught Feli's eyes. She was staring at him with a pleading expression, obviously begging him to help her sister. That was why she brought him here, after all.

Antonio knew that it wouldn't be safe for him to try to cut her free while she was thrashing at him. He might accidentally cut her, and that wasn't something he was willing to risk.

He wanted to explain what happened. He wanted to tell her that he was pretty sure that he was in love with her, even if he knew it couldn't work. He wanted to explain so many things, but she couldn't understand.

Lovi made a frustrated, animalistic sound, and tried to hit him again.

He scooted backwards and decided on a very simple approach. He waited.

It was clear that she'd been struggling to free herself for a while. He knew that she'd tire herself out very quickly, so he just had to wait and then he could help.

Eventually, she quieted, stilled, and finally just stared at him. She looked like she'd love to tear his throat out, which she probably _could_ with those piranha-like teeth.

"I'm sorry, Lovi. I know you're still mad at me."

She turned her face away. "Stupid."

"SÃ, I am kind of stupid." He slowly shifted forward again, looking over the tangled maze of ropes. It was getting dark, which meant that he'd need to free her quickly. He didn't want to be out here, on the water, at night. Besides, it'd be hard to see what he was doing and that might lead to him injuring her.

It looked like the main problem was her wrist. Once he freed that, she should be able to untangle herself from the net with a little help.

He flipped the blade out. Lovi eyed the object with obvious suspicion, so he sent her a hopefully-reassuring smile.

"Hopefully I can cut through with this." He began to saw at the ropes that were tangled around her wrist. It seemed like it took forever to make any progress, but eventually he could feel it weakening. He was about to say something, but Lovi suddenly gave a sharp tug and it broke.

"There! You'll be free in no time, Lovi!"

She was already using her newly-freed hand to tug at the netting that was tangled around her fins. She did take the time to look over at him, though. Her expression was difficult to read. She still looked annoyed, but slightly less so...

He knew that this wasn't the time or the place for a confession. Yes, he wanted to explain that he hadn't pushed her away because he didn't like her. It was actually the exact opposite. He thought she was the most incredible girl he ever met. Not just because of the fishy thing, either. She was so smart and beautiful and spirited, as well as incredibly stubborn. He pushed her away _because_ she was so wonderful.

But, he knew that he shouldn't try to force her to forgive him when she couldn't even escape. He imagined that she was probably embarrassed; she wasn't even meeting his eyes anymore.

Man, this was really frustrating.

He sighed and focused on cutting through the netting. She continued biting at it and working on the knots with her fingers. Antonio found himself watching her and wondering what his madre would say if he told her that he was pretty sure that he was falling in love with a half-fish girl. She was really wonderful and open-minded-she loved both Franny and Gil after all-but even she might have a bit of trouble with that one.

"Lovi?"

He hadn't meant to speak, but apparently his mouth was working faster than his brain. She twisted her head and broke the rope between her teeth before turning toward him. "What?"

"I'm sorry." Even if she couldn't understand the words, he hoped she understood his tone. "I didn't want to hurt you. I would never want to hurt you. I just- I don't want to do anything that you don't want, but I don't know exactly _what_ you want and I think I'm falling in love with you."

...Yeah, his mouth was definitely working faster than his brain right now.

Lovi was now staring at him with an expression of complete confusion. Obviously she hadn't understood a word he just said.

Antonio lowered his eyes and glared down at the netting. He had felt so lost and lonely since Lovi left and now she was here, right in front of him, but he still couldn't say anything.

Maybe it would make him feel better if he imagined that the ropes under his fingertips were the bonds keeping him from being able to talk to Lovi. At the very least, it'd help him work faster and then he could get out of here and move on with his life and forget about her.

But, then he suddenly heard a clicking sound from behind him. He jumped, then turned his head. Feli was still there. He almost forgot about her.

Lovi clicked something back and the other girl tilted her head to the side, as if confused by her sister's response. At Lovina's answering glare, however, the girl nodded and suddenly disappeared under the water.

What was that about?

Lovina didn't explain, of course. She returned her attention to biting at the ropes. It seemed like she was pretty close to freeing herself. Antonio doubled his own efforts, sawing through the net and then searching for weak places that could be pulled apart.

It was getting cold. This little cave was protected from the ocean breezes, but the temperature was dropping as evening turned into night. And he never really totally dried off. He distractedly wondered how he was going to get home. It was way too dark to swim, but he obviously couldn't stay out here all night. He'd freeze, and for all he knew, this little cave might end up covered by the tide at some point.

Maybe Lovi would help him to the shoreline. He knew that she still hated him, but she wouldn't leave him here. He could probably walk to somebody's house, ask to use the phone... He wasn't sure how he'd explain how he ended up out here, but he'd have time to think about it.

"I think you should be able to get into the water now," he finally said.

It was hard to see, but he could feel that the ropes were loose now. He brushed everything he could see away and then waited, as he felt Lovi wiggle her tail from side to side and up and down.

He was a bit surprised when she didn't immediately re-enter the water. He wondered if maybe she was hurt. Maybe there was an injury on her back or something... He was about to ask, but then a hand suddenly settled on his chest.

To say he was startled would be a rather huge understatement. "Lovi?"

He could barely see anything right now; it was almost pitch black in their little hideaway. He squinted at her as she moved her face into sight and stared down at him.

"Antonio stupid."

He felt his heart sink at that, but then she suddenly moved her hand to his face and brushed her fingertips against his cheek. "Stupid, but not hate."

" _Not?_ "

She suddenly smacked him on the head, which was not the reaction he expected. " _Not_! Fuck!"

"Ow." That actually hurt. He sat upright, or as upright as he could. He still had to keep his head ducked down. Lovi rolled onto her side to face him, frowning.

Okay, so she said that she didn't hate him, right? That's what that meant? But, then she hit him?

"You're sending me kind of mixed signals here, querida."

She clicked at him. He would assume it meant something like, 'You're a dense idiot.' Then she rolled onto her back, sighing softly. He watched, as her dark hair pooled around her head like a halo and her chest rose and fell.

He hurriedly turned his eyes away, cheeks heating up. "Ah, Lovi...?"

Antonio could feel her tail brush against his legs as she moved. "Yes?"

"If I-I-" He couldn't think of a way to explain, so he decided to just not think.

He scooted across the narrow space between them and moved so he was bent over her, looking down at Lovi's face. She didn't flinch away, just stared up at him with a slightly curious expression. He felt a weight suddenly settle over his legs and glanced back to see that she'd curled her tail around so the bottom fin was laying over his feet.

Okay, so that was definitely a good sign. Antonio felt a little braver now as he took a deep breath and gazed down at her. "Um, so... This is what we call a kiss. I hope you're okay with it. If you're not, you can just hit me or something."

It was easier to show that he liked her through actions than words. He just had to be very slow and not startle her... He began lowering his face toward hers.

Except, she suddenly squeaked and jerked backwards. Antonio hurriedly jumped away, hitting his head on the ceiling in the process, mouth open in immediate apology. But, she followed his motion and, before he could say anything, brought her mouth to his neck and _bit_.

Not hard; it felt like a sudden pinch and startled him more than anything. He jumped away with a surprised yelp. "Ow!"

And that was definitely the wrong response again. Lovi stared at him, her own eyes wide with surprise, and then he saw her cheeks color before she suddenly turned and practically threw herself into the ocean.

"Wai-!"

There was no way he was going to stop her.

Antonio didn't swear very often, but he was pretty sure that it was warranted right now.


	5. Chapter 5

So, this was the cause of his granddaughter's distress...

Romulus would have to admit that this wasn't what he expected.

"That one's Antonio." His younger granddaughter pointed through the water at a dark-haired human boy, who was standing on the dock and staring out toward the sea with a sad, defeated expression. "Lovi's been coming out to meet with him a few months."

Well, he was handsome. Romulus could see why Lovina might find herself attracted to this boy.

A human, though. That was entirely unexpected. It was also _fascinating_...

Feli floated beside him, her expression downcast. He knew that she was worrying about her sister and probably wondering if telling him about this boy was the right thing to do. Romulus was certain that Lovina would be furious when she found out, but it really had been obvious to everyone that something was wrong. He was her grandfather, as well as her king. He would, of course, try to find out what happened to make her so unhappy.

"A human..."

Feli flicked her tail and swam in front of him. "He's really nice, though! He's not a bad human at all! He even saved her when she got caught in a net, even though he couldn't swim and I had to bring him to her!"

She obviously was worried that he was going to do something to this human. That wasn't Romulus's intention. Not now, at least.

He watched the boy, thinking... His headstrong, adorable little granddaughter had fallen in love...

"Feli, go get your sister and bring her here."

Feli flicked her tail in surprise. "Bring her here?"

"Tell her that it's an order from her king." He knew that Lovi would be annoyed by the summons, but refusing a royal request was impossible... Technically. "Perhaps it would be best to not tell her where you're taking her, though." Just to be safe.

His younger granddaughter hesitated for a moment, but then nodded and swam back toward the city.

Romulus remained, staring up toward the young human. He had apparently decided to sit on the edge of the dock, dangling his feet over the ocean.

It seemed like it was time for Romulus to set things right.

~.~.~

Ya know, as weird as it might be... Gilbert could totally accept that his best friend fell in love with a fish girl. After all, what guy hadn't experienced weird, confusing feelings when they first watched _The Little Mermaid_? It totally made sense.

What he couldn't accept was how _pathetic_ Antonio was being right now.

"Dude," he shouted toward his friend from where he and Francis were standing on the beach. "Why don't we go find a bar and get totally hammered? That'll be way more fun than just sitting out on this smelly dock all evening!"

Antonio didn't even seem to hear him. He just continued to stare out at the ocean, as if expecting the mergirl to appear at any moment.

Gilbert huffed out a breath in annoyance and then muttered, "This is getting fucking ridiculous."

Francis sighed and slid a hand into his jacket pocket. "Oui. Poor Antoine. A broken heart is a difficult thing to mend."

Yeah, maybe, but sitting out on this dock night after night wasn't going to help anything. Gilbert didn't like how hard his friend was taking this whole breakup, if that's what you could call it. He'd been so unhappy recently. Sure, he tried to fake that everything was okay; he kept his usual happy-go-lucky grin plastered on at his part-time serving job and he still hung out with his friends and laughed at their stupid jokes. But Gilbert and Francis knew their friend well-enough to know that he was unhappy.

And he'd taken to coming out here most nights. He said it was just because he enjoyed the peace and quiet, but they both knew that he was hoping that Lovina would show up.

Francis suddenly sighed and began to walk out onto the wooden dock. "Come on, Gil."

Gilbert followed, not entirely sure what his friend was about to do. But, he knew that if anybody could talk some sense into Antonio, it probably would be Francis. He'd always been better at all this emotional, mushy stuff.

He crouched beside their friend, finally jerking Antonio back to the present. He turned his head toward them and Gilbert was surprised and disturbed to see how bright his eyes were, like he was close to crying. He hurriedly brushed them away, though, and laughed. "Oh, sorry, Franny. I zoned out."

Francis sighed, then reached out and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Antoine."

"Sorry? Why are you sorry?" Antonio legitimately sounded puzzled.

"I'm sorry that things are difficult for you, mon ami. It's always very difficult to get over a heartbreak like this, but Gilbert and I are always going to be here for you."

Gilbert nodded. "Of course! We ain't ever gonna ditch you! It's bros before hoes, after all!" He raised a fist toward the air in what was definitely an awesome pose.

Antonio laughed, an actual laugh, even if it did sound a bit sniffly. "Gracias. I just wish I'd been able to tell her that I was sorry." He hesitated, then continued. "I'd already decided that I'd stop coming here after tonight. I just...hoped."

"Don't worry, man." Gilbert crouched down between the other two. "There are plenty of other fish in the sea who aren't actually fish! I think we should totally take you out clubbing after this. Get some drinks in ya, pick up some hot chicks. You'll feel better in no time!"

Francis snorted and rolled his eyes, while Antonio just frowned. It was totally an awesome idea, though. Gilbert knew drinking always cheered him up.

"That does sound like an excellent way to spend an evening. It's unfortunate that I can't join you."

Gilbert was definitely not the one who screamed, no matter what anyone else said. He was way too awesome and manly to scream just because a man's voice suddenly just appeared out of fucking nowhere. Nope, the other two might have screamed, but not the Awesome Gilbert Beilschmidt.

He did spin around, though, so he could beat up the guy if he turned out to be a threat. Which meant he was the first one to realize that the voice was coming from the water.

Specifically, from a man floating in the water. An older man, with dark hair and a freakin' like twelve pack or something. The guy was shredded.

He also had a long, golden-colored tail.

"Fuck," was the only thing Gilbert could say. He was getting really sick of these fucking mermaids.

Antonio was on his feet in a moment, staring down at the merman in the water like he wasn't sure whether he should remain on the dock or jump in for some stupid reason. Francis hurriedly joined him and grabbed his arm, probably to make sure he remained in place.

The man chuckled, and it sounded much more human than anything they'd ever heard from Lovi. He lifted an arm from the water, biceps glistening, and then said, "Lovely weather we're having, isn't it?"

"Y-you..."

The man swam closer and stared at Antonio for a few moments before he nodded. "It's definitely not going to be easy for you, young man, but I'm willing to consider giving my blessing."

Antonio, Gilbert, and Francis all stared at the man with varying expressions of total confusion. Francis was the first to snap out of it. He released Antonio's arm and took a step closer to the end of the dock, where he crouched so he was closer to the man's level. "Um, I apologize. We haven't been introduced. You wouldn't happen to be Lovina's..." He hesitated, then guessed, "Father?"

The man laughed. " _Father_?! Such a flatterer at such a young age!" He puffed his chest. "I'm her _grand_ father!"

Gilbert's eyes widened. Dude, he hoped he was that ripped when he was a grandfather.

The merman continued, looking at Antonio, who still seemed to be in shock. "My little Feliciana told me that my other granddaughter has been causing some trouble up on the surface. I decided to come and investigate for myself."

"You can speak English!"

Man, that took a while. Francis turned to send Antonio an incredulous look, but their friend had eyes for nothing but this merguy. He dropped to his knees with a heavy thump and leaned forward; Francis grabbed onto the back of his shirt to make sure he didn't accidentally topple into the water. "Lo siento, but can you tell Lovi that I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to make her angry!"

"Didn't you?" A slight smirk passed over the man's lips, but then he crossed his arms over his chest and frowned sternly. "I'll consider it. First, I would appreciate if you three would answer my questions. Have you told anyone else about my people's existence?"

"No!" Antonio shook his head decisively.

"My brother," Gilbert corrected him. Although, Ludwig barely counted. "He isn't going to tell anyone, though." He'd be too worried about people thinking he was crazy.

The merman nodded. "Good. The less people know, the better. My little Lovi broke _quite_ a few rules when she let herself be seen by you." He sighed. "Ah, I always knew she took after me. I suppose I will have to punish her, though..."

Antonio looked horrified by this. He jerked slightly forward, but Francis pulled him back. "No! It wasn't Lovi's fault! Gil lost his pendant in the water and she brought it back to him!"

Okay, no, that was completely not what happened. The little fish bitch _stole_ his pendant. If it wasn't for his brother, he never would've gotten it back. Gilbert opened his mouth to argue, but Antonio wasn't done talking, apparently.

"So, please don't punish her! I just want to talk to her again! I miss her so much and I think she misunderstood what I was trying to do and I don't want her to think that I don't like her, because I really, _really_ do!"

Francis was staring at the merman with an unreadable expression. He finally spoke again, obviously considering his words very carefully. "I'm a little curious, Monsieur... How do you know our language? Who _are_ you?"

Probably good questions. The man smiled and puffed up. "Ah! The stories I could tell about how I came to learn your language! My name is Romulus Rex Roma and I am ruler over this corner of the sea!" He must have seen some weird expression cross over the boys' faces, because he waved a hand in dismissal. "That's not particularly important, though. Not to humans, at least. More important is the fact that I am also a world traveler! I've explored the oceans, the human world... That's where I learned to speak your language, as well as others."

He was getting that rambly look in his eye that Gilbert recognized from particularly boring visits with his own grandfather. "I particularly enjoyed my journeys in Italy. The food, the wine, the lovely human women, but now, I am a humble king and grandfather, doing my best to raise my two adorable little granddaughters!"

Nobody seemed to know where to even begin with that. Humble _king_?

Gilbert thought this through and then realized, "Dude, Toni! You've been feeling up royalty this whole time!"

Antonio turned bright red. "I haven't been 'feeling her up'! I would never do that to Lovi!"

Pft, yeah, right. He totally saw them getting all cozy while Antonio was out swimming with her and who knew what else they did when he and Franny weren't there. Gilbert laughed, a hissy sort of sound, and then dropped down to join his friends on the damp, wooden dock. "Man, this is crazy. So," he turned back to the merman. "How'd you world travel with a fin like that? You'd think we'd have heard of you guys being real before now if you were going all over the place."

Romulus smiled again. "You could call it a perk of the job. I have the ability to change my shape and blend in with humans for limited periods of time. It's something I learned from the former king and Lovi will learn from me, once she's a bit older." He sent a pointed look toward Antonio, whose eyes lit up at the realization of what that meant. Then, he turned back toward the ocean, "And here are my girls now."

Gilbert, Francis, and Antonio all turned their attention from the merman and toward the distant ocean. At first, they couldn't see anything, but then Gilbert noticed a disturbance on the surface of the water and pointed it out to his friends. It was moving toward them at a rapid speed.

Antonio jumped to his feet. "Lovi!"

After a few moments, the dark-haired girl surfaced beside her grandfather. Beside her was her sister, who looked a little worried, while Lovi looked pissed. She only spared a single quick glance toward their group, before turning toward her grandfather and punching him right in the solar plexus.

It didn't look like it actually hurt, but they still all stared at her in surprise. Her sister squeaked and immediately moved to grab her before she could do it again.

Lovi didn't even seem to notice her, she just clicked at the merman in obvious annoyance while completely ignoring Antonio, who visibly wilted at the lack of attention from his fishy-lady love.

It seemed like she was never gonna stop ragging on the old man. He eventually lifted his arms out of the water and said, "Now, now..." in English. "Nonno's here to help both of you."

The expression of absolute shock that crossed Lovina's face was pretty priceless. Both her and her sister's eyes widened and they stared at their grandfather like he just sprouted an extra head right in front of them. Gilbert was going to guess that they hadn't known that their grandfather spoke English.

It would've been a nice thing to know. Could've avoided a _whole_ lotta issues.

He was pretty sure Lovina realized this at the same moment he did, since she suddenly gave the most infuriated, terrifying screech he'd ever heard. And that was including the scream Lizzie let out when he stole her favorite teddy bear in kindergarten, right before she smashed him over the head with a toy frying pan.

"Lov-" Her grandfather started to say, presumably in an attempt to calm her down. It didn't work. She _threw_ herself at him like a flying projectile and they both went under the water. Feli squeaked in dismay and dove underneath as well, which left three human beings on the dock...

They stared at the water, then at each other.

"Dude, you've been trying to bang a motherfuckin' mermaid _princess_ ," Gilbert said.

Francis chuckled. "That is rather impressive, Antoine. If very unexpected."

Antonio was preoccupied by the violently churning ocean. "Do-do you think they're okay?"

Gilbert shrugged. "Well, I'm sure as hell not going down there to see if they are or not." He'd seen those teeth. He wasn't gonna get attacked by a piranha mermaid today. "So, looks like you got your wish. What are you planning on saying to her?"

Antonio remained in place for a moment, then decided to sit beside him. "I wanted to say that I was sorry for what happened, but... I wasn't expecting this at all."

The water was calming down, which hopefully meant that they'd stopped fighting and not that Lovina had just murdered her grandfather. They watched for anyone to resurface.

Feli was the first. She popped her head out of the water and clicked at them, then looked toward a spot on the surface. After a moment, her sister and grandfather appeared.

No visible injuries, but the old man did look a little chagrined. Lovi was pouting, arms crossed over her chest as she refused to look at anyone.

"Well, I suppose it is understandable that Lovina's a bit upset..." He said. "Although, I _was_ completely unaware that she met a human, since she never told me. If I had known, I obviously would have offered up my translation services earlier."

Lovina didn't seem to need a translation to know what that meant. She snorted, but finally lifted her head to look up at Antonio. He immediately dropped onto his knees again and reached a hand toward her while sending her the most sickeningly lovestruck look Gilbert had ever seen.

Ugh, it made him want to bash his head against the dock. Meanwhile, Francis just grinned and scooted away from their friend and then whispered. "So, how long until he decides to jump in with her?"

Gilbert rolled his eyes. "He's gonna regret it if he does. I'm not driving him home when he's soaking wet."

"Lovi, I'm so sorry. I...um...I wanted to say that I was sorry. I didn't mean to upset you and I swear I wasn't trying to do anything bad!" He stopped and helplessly looked toward Romulus, who clicked something to her.

She immediately rolled her eyes and frowned. She was ignoring the offered hand and instead mumbled, "Stupid Antonio."

"Yeah, I'm definitely stupid," he agreed way too readily. Both Francis and Gilbert snorted. "I wanted to explain, though!"

Her grandfather presumably translated what he said and she immediately clicked something back at him. Romulus's eyebrows rose for a moment, but then he laughed and turned back toward Antonio. "Did you try to kiss her?"

Wait, he did? Gilbert never saw that happen. When was Antonio pulling _those_ moves?

He was blushing heavily enough to make it clear that he had, even before he admitted, "Um, yes."

"Dude, she's got piranha teeth. Also, major fish breath!" He still remembered watching her tear that fish's head off in one bite. He wouldn't want his tongue anywhere near that.

Antonio sent him a look that clearly stated that his comments were unwanted. Pft, just trying to look out for his buddy.

Romulus chuckled, ignoring his granddaughter's homicidal glares. "Well, that explains it. Kissing is, unfortunately, a human pastime. I remember my first experience with it... Ah," he sighed in grandfatherly reminiscence. "That was a highly enjoyable experience."

He returned to translation duty, although this time he seemed to be explaining the whole concept of kissing to the girls. Feli was listening with her sister, obviously fascinated by this new information. At the same time, Lovi was turning red as a tomato.

While Antonio started looking more and more nervous.

Her grandfather was apparently enjoying his impromptu explanation of the birds and the bees. He was grinning while making expansive hand gestures. When he finished, Lovi clicked at him for a while and then Feli joined in.

"I feel like I'm listening to Flipper," Gilbert muttered. "Except without that weird thing that sounds like he's laughing."

Francis giggled. Antonio glanced back toward them with a look of 'how can you be laughing at a time like this?'

The mermaids finally seemed to finish their conversation. Feli's eyes were wide, like she'd been shown a whole new world; Lovi was staring down at the water, cheeks bright red; and Romulus was just grinning, obviously highly entertained by this whole situation.

"I suppose we'll have to talk about the courtship, then! Ah, they grow up so fast." He wiped a probably-not-actually-there tear from his eye. "Of course, we'll have to adapt it to the situation! Normally, anyone who wants to court the next heir to the throne would prove their worthiness by demonstrating their prowess in battle, speed and grace while swimming, and their willingness to sacrifice everything, including their life, for their queen."

Now Antonio was turning pale. "Uh..."

"But, that's nothing to fret about! We'll figure it out when the time comes."

Antonio nodded, still looking slightly terrified. "I-yes, yes, I'll do whatever I have to do. Does that mean Lovi..." He stopped. Gilbert could tell that he really wanted to know the answer to his question, but was too nervous to actually ask.

Pansy.

"Um," he shifted his weight nervously between his feet, then asked. "Is-is there a way to say 'I love you' in your language? That I could...um..."

Francis sighed. "So adorable."

"Dude, I'm gonna fucking puke if this keeps up."

Francis punched him in the shoulder, which was totally unawesome!

Romulus chuckled and then motioned for Antonio to come to him. And, of course, the idiot didn't even stop to think. He just immediately went to the very edge of the dock, sat down, and then pushed himself into the water.

Gilbert groaned. "Goddamnit. I am _not_ ruining my leather seats for this bullshit."

Francis giggled, and then stood. "I think it's about time for us to be going anyway. It's best not to intrude on _l'amour_ ~"

"Dude, we intrude on 'l'amour' all the time."

"Oui," Francis nodded. "But, in this case it might be better to intrude from a distance. Give them a little privacy, oui?"

Whatever. Just so long as his car stayed nice and dry.


	6. Chapter 6

Stupid sister. Stupid grandfather. Stupid humans and their stupid 'kissing'. What a stupid idea. Why would anyone want to do something like that? And especially stupid Antonio, for not somehow letting her know it was a stupid human thing.

Lovi just wanted to hide in a cave for the next few years. Maybe she'd stop blushing by then.

"Ahh, young love!" It didn't help that Nonno kept crooning over her, squeezing his hands together as he acted like an overemotional idiot. "If only you'd told me before, Lovi, I would've translated for you! I suppose now we'll have to start lessons in the human languages, though."

She glared down into the water, refusing to show any interest in what he was saying. Maybe he'd shut up if she ignored him.

She knew it wasn't likely, but she could hope.

"Lovi, that's so cute!" Her sister was also being annoying. "He wants to be your mate too!"

"Like I'd want an ugly human for a mate." This was all Antonio's fault. If he hadn't gone out on that stupid dock, then none of this would've happened. She would've found a gift for Feli, gone home, and continued with her normal, human-less life.

Her grandfather started talking to Antonio again in that stupid human language, which just annoyed her even more, since she could only understand a handful of words. One of which was her name, so she knew they were talking about her.

She flicked her tail underwater, almost smacking a fish that was swimming by. That stupid bastard. Why would he try to _kiss_ her? He should've known that she wouldn't know what he was doing. It was perfectly reasonable for a girl to freak out when someone moved his mouth toward her like that. Yes, humans might have weird, useless, flat teeth, but it still would probably hurt if they bit you. And she didn't know what sort of weird things humans did...

She could feel her cheeks heating up even more, as she remembered that moment. It was embarrassing to be seen like that, caught in a net like a careless guppy, but Antonio hadn't laughed or mocked her. He helped free her from the ropes, always very gentle, and he talked to her. She couldn't understand the words, but she knew he was trying to apologize for insulting her before.

She wanted to stay angry with him, but it was annoyingly difficult after that. She could've disappeared once she was free, but instead she decided to stay... For some completely illogical reason.

It was probably just because he looked so pathetic. It wasn't like he could help being a stupid human.

So, she stayed. He was the one who then decided to crawl over her and...maybe she thought in those moments that he really was attractive for a human and that she could forgive him for pushing her away before. He was an idiot, but his eyes were so green and they pleaded with her for another chance.

But, then... The stupid thing happened. And, of course, she realized right after biting him that she made a mistake. She was too embarrassed to stay, so she swam away and promised herself that she'd never see him again.

But then her fucking nonno and sister got involved.

And now Antonio was doing something... She watched, confused, as he sat on the edge of the dock and then pushed himself off and into the water for some reason. Her initial instinct was to swim toward him, since he wasn't wearing the stupid baby thing that helped him stay afloat, but then she remembered that her sister and grandfather were right there. She couldn't do anything stupid and sappy in front of them.

She, instead, watched as Nonno swam toward her stupid human and leaned forward to whisper something in his ear.

Lovi scowled. She didn't trust her grandfather. And she really didn't like that _he_ could understand their stupid language when she couldn't. Nonno could say _anything_ to Antonio and she would have no idea.

Antonio was listening very intently to whatever her nonno was saying. She saw him nod a few times and silently mouth something. Then, he turned toward her with those stupidly green eyes and began to swim in her general direction.

At least, that's what she assumed he was trying to do. She'd seen headless fish swim more efficiently than him.

"Lovi!"

"Yes." She had to fight the urge to reach out and grab him; just watching him attempt to swim was making her anxious, as much as she tried to ignore the feeling.

He stopped in front of her, legs inefficiently kicking underwater to keep him afloat. He was staring at her, so intently that it actually made her feel a slight tinge of nervousness...

Then, in her own language-or as close as any human vocal cords were going to get-he clearly and rather loudly declared, "I love you, Lovi!"

And her stupid heart did its stupid fluttering and her sister made an obnoxiously high-pitched squealing sound and Lovi _knew_ that her face was currently turning the same shade of red as her now-beloved tomatoes. And she couldn't respond. All she could do was stare at him, her cheeks turning a brighter and brighter shade of red as the moments dragged on like tiny eternities.

Antonio started to look nervous. He turned his head away and said something in the human language to her grandfather, who chuckled and then said, "You're making him think he said it wrong."

Stupid Nonno. She sent him an icy glare. He just laughed at her.

Antonio's eyes were on her again, so green... She could easily forget where they were, about her sister and grandfather's presence, about the fact that he was a _human_ and she had no idea how this could possibly work, when his eyes were focused on her like this.

She took a deep breath, closed her own eyes so she could regain her composure... And then repeated the same words back to him.

She wasn't sure what response she'd expected; humans were unpredictable in general and _her_ human seemed at least doubly as bizarre as all others. She definitely _hadn't_ expected a loud exclamation and sudden movement toward her, almost like he was trying to attack.

Except of course it wasn't an attack and she hurriedly squashed her initial instincts, which were to freeze and/or defend herself. She'd learned from her past mistakes.

He had thrown his arms around her and was now pulling her against his body. Something she instantly knew she appreciated...

Except her grandfather's voice broke through the moment like one of those awful horns that humans put on their largest ships. "Now, this is what humans call a 'hug'. If you want, I can ask Antonio if he'd be willing to show you what a 'kiss' is like... Although, of course, as your grandfather and king, I do have to be strict and say it can't progress any farther than that until he's officially announced his courtship." The wink he sent her made it clear that he was _only_ saying this 'as her grandfather and king'.

God-fucking-damnit. If that wasn't an instant mood-killer...

"Lovi," but Antonio's voice brought her back to him. He was smiling and, as he lifted his hand to brush against her cheek, he repeated, "I love you."

...And fuck it.

She didn't care if her grandfather knew the human language. She and Antonio had been doing just fine without him, kind of... Not always. But, well enough that she wasn't going to stick around and let him and her sister watch her embarrass herself, just in case she needed a translator.

She pulled away from Antonio, grabbed his arm, and began to swim as fast as she could while dragging him behind her.

"Wait, Lov-"

They'd figure it out.


End file.
